“We have had an unexpected number of inquiries into this sale which is very encouraging. This is an exciting time for the IP marketplace and Carlson Wireless,” said Jim Carlson, founder and CEO. “With WiMax, 3G and 4G markets holding their own in these uncertain times, interest in Intellectual Property (IP) like this seems to be increasing.” This assessment is buoyed by the very recent sale of wireless IP by Conexant Systems Inc. of Newport Beach CA for approximately $15 million.

“There are a lot of very cash rich institutions out there who are not interested in investing in equities at the moment, but which have money to burn. This presents the IP market with a tremendous opportunity,” writes Joff Wild recently in his IAM Magazine blog where he discusses the potential ups and downs of IP investment in the current financial climate. “We could be about to enter a defining period in the development of the IP market place.”

The broad application of the WiMax and 3G standards to these patents seems to be fueling the interest. A forward citation analysis found a long list of companies holding patents that cite one or more of the Carlson patents to be auctioned.

This includes companies such as, Alcatel-Lucent, Broadcom Corporation, California Institute of Technology, Cisco Systems, Inc., CommScope Inc., DDi Corporation, DirecTV Group Inc., Honeywell International, Inc., International Business Machines Corp., L-3 Communications Corporation, LG Electronics, Inc., LM Ericsson Telephone Co., LSI Corporation, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Nokia Siemens Networks Oy, Nortel Networks Corp., Phonex Corporation, QUALCOMM Incorporated, Qwest Communications International Inc., Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., Sony Corporation, Sprint Spectrum L.P., Summit Wireless, LLC, Tachyon Networks Incorporatedand Texas Instruments Inc.